On the Edge of Honour
by Blue-Eyed Chocobo
Summary: Cloud’s guilt leads him to trust a man named Zack who says he’s been looking for him, but he soon realizes that he’s just a pawn in an old game that has yet to really end, as the Planet is again threatened and Cloud’s friends are killed off one by one.


**Prologue**

**

_Four years after the events in Advent Children…_

**

"Tifa!" Denzel tried running towards her but was held back.

"Denzel, no!" Marlene cried, gripping his arm. "Don't, please!"

Denzel spun around, ripping his arm away from the younger girl. "Tifa's in trouble! I need to do something!"

"Denzel!" She tried to reach out to him again but he was out of reach as he ran towards Tifa. Marlene watched in horror as he approached the dark haired man, and as he turned around to face the child, Marlene saw his eyes- those eyes, those very same eyes that she'd seen before. Those eyes had brought chaos into their lives, those eyes that had even been seen in Denzel. She hadn't seen those eyes in him before, but now, he had showed his true self. Those eyes were enough strike fear in her, but the fact that both Denzel and Tifa were in danger from him was even harder to bear.

Denzel ran up towards him and tried to throw a punch to at least distract him from Tifa, but he was only met with a powerful, sharp blow to the chest from the large sword the man held, slicing through his tiny body with ease.

"Don't get in my way," the man sneered as his follow-through had sent the child's body to the other side of the room, splattering a trail of blood that pooled around his now lifeless form.

"DENZEL!" Tifa and Marlene screamed as they witnessed such a malicious attack.

"No, no, no, no," Tifa muttered in disbelief as she shrunk back away from him, her back against the wall. All she could do was say "no" as if saying it enough would reverse what had just happened. Tears began to form in her eyes as the taller man looked down at her. It would have been so much better if he had no expression on his face, but the grin that played on his face now mocked her, mocked the taking of a life, a child's life.

She was paralyzed in shock, grief, and fear, fear for herself and for Marlene. She had seen death so many times, but it never struck her this hard before. All her strength seemed to have escaped her at that moment and she could hardly stand.

Then, he laughed. A slight chuckle. That laugh she was so used to hearing now pierced through her and gripped something inside her, squeezing it, holding it so tightly that she couldn't breathe other than in small, sharp gasps for air between her sobbing. That laugh…wasn't his.

She gathered all her courage and strength to simply lift her head and look at the beast that was now approaching her. That was when she heard the soft pounding of small feet on the wooden floorboard. Her eyes widened in fear as she saw the little girl with the pink bow in her hair running towards the man who had just killed Denzel.

"Marlene!" Tifa pleaded. No. Please, no. Don't do it. Go. Get away.

"You monster! You monster!" Marlene screamed.

Tifa wanted to run to her to stop her, shield her from whatever would come next, but all she could do was watch as the man grabbed her by the neck and lift her up so that he was at eye-level with him. He flashed a grin, that toothy grin that once brought smiles to the faces of all those around him, now only called sickening death towards to work for him.

Marlene coughed, choked, and desperately grasped for air as the man's inhumanly strong grip tightened slowly on her throat. "Cl…Cloud!" She managed to choke out.

The man simply laughed.

"Let…let her go!" Tifa yelled as she took a staggered step towards him, her left arm almost useless now after the attack. Still, she tried with all her strength as she grabbed his arm with both hands and tried to rip it away from her. "Zack!" She pleaded, too exhausted to cry anymore. "Please! Please, no! No more!"

**

_One year earlier…_

**

A sudden sharp pain blinded Cloud and almost caused him to crash into the vehicle in front of him, but he managed to turn out of the way before any harm could be done. He skidded to a stop in the middle of the highway and froze for a moment. He gripped the handles of Fenrir tightly as he blinked his eyes hard and breathed in and out deeply, suddenly realizing that he was out of breath for no reason. The sharp pain in the back of his head dulled to an odd burning, and then it was gone. He shook his head slightly, unsure of what had just happened.

The cars behind him began honking for him to move out of the way.

He glanced at the cars behind him, then reluctantly revved the throttle again, coaxing the motorcycle to resume its duties. He had a delivery to make and a sudden headache wasn't about to stop him from doing so. Besides, he had gone through much worse before.

Putting the event behind him, Cloud raced on at a comfortable speed along the highway, oblivious to the small speck falling from the sky in the distance.


End file.
